Content providing based on location determination using sensor data

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure enables an improved location determination and subsequent content providing. In one aspect, a method includes assigning a geographical tile to a tracking device, the geographical tile representing a geographical location in which the tracking device is currently located; activating at least one sensor on-board the tracking device, the at least one sensor of the tracking device being used to collect location data and determine displacement information of the tracking device on the tracking device; receiving the displacement information as well as at least one satellite based location update from the tracking device; determining at least one zone of interest in the tile at which the tracking device is currently located based on the displacement information and at least one satellite based location information of the tracking device; and providing at least one content associated with the at least one zone of interest to the tracking device.

PRIORITY INFORMATION

This Application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application62/666,416 filed on May 3, 2018 and U.S. Provisional Application62/666,451 filed on May 3, 2018, the entire content of both of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology pertains to systems and methods for improvinglocation determination of tracking devices, and more specifically toproviding content to such tracking devices based on an improved locationdetermination method that relies on on-board sensor data of the trackingdevice in addition to satellite signals.

BACKGROUND

Location determination often relies on receiving continuous locationupdates from a moving target (e.g., a vehicle). The requirement for suchcontinuous transmission of location updates from a tracking device(e.g., a mobile device) associated with the moving target to the server,requires the server to obtain accurate location information (e.g.,accurate reading of global positioning system (GPS) signals from thetracking device). However, there are many geographical areas in which atracking device may not be able to obtain accurate GPS signals due tothe existence of many structures and buildings in the surrounding areasof the tracking device (e.g., in a downtown area, under a bridge, in asecure building, in a mall, etc.). This can adversely affect the readingprovided by the tracking device to a server. Furthermore, the accuracyof GPS signals may not be sufficient to distinguish relatively smallmovement of mobile devices within a given structure (e.g., from onestore to an adjacent one in a shopping mall).

Unavailability of accurate GPS signals and/or inability of detectingsmall variations in movement of tracking devices by relying on GPSsignals alone, can directly and adversely affect content provided tousers of such tracking devices.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments are provided for using on-board sensor data of atracking device in addition to satellite signals to improve thedetermination of the location of a tracking device and hence improve thetargeted content pushed to such a tracking device based on the improveddetermination of the location of the tracking device.

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of targeted contentproviding includes assigning a geographical tile to a tracking device,the geographical tile representing a geographical location in which thetracking device is currently located; activating at least one sensoron-board the tracking device, the at least one sensor of the trackingdevice being used to collect location data and determine displacementinformation of the tracking device on the tracking device; receiving thedisplacement information as well as at least one satellite basedlocation update from the tracking device; determining at least one zoneof interest in the tile at which the tracking device is currentlylocated based on the displacement information and at least one satellitebased location information of the tracking device; and providing atleast one content associated with the at least one zone of interest tothe tracking device.

In one aspect, a device includes memory having computer-readableinstructions stored therein; and one or more processors. The one or moreprocessors are configured to execute the computer-readable instructionsto receive a geographical tile from a server, the geographical tilerepresenting a geographical location in which the device is currentlylocated; receive a plurality of content associated with the geographicaltile from the server; determine displacement information of the devicewithin the tile using a reference point and displacement data obtainedvia at least one on-board sensor of the device; determine a presence ofthe device within a zone of interest in the tile based on thedisplacement information; and activate at least one contentcorresponding the zone of interest.

In one aspect, a device includes memory having computer-readableinstructions stored therein; and one or more processors. The one or moreprocessors are configured to execute the computer-readable instructionsto assign a geographical tile to a tracking device, the geographicaltile representing a geographical location in which the tracking deviceis currently located; activate at least one sensor on-board the trackingdevice, the at least one sensor of the tracking device being used tocollect location data and determine displacement information of thetracking device on the tracking device; receive the displacementinformation as well as at least one satellite based location update fromthe tracking device; determine at least one zone of interest in the tileat which the tracking device is currently located based on thedisplacement information and at least one satellite based locationinformation of the tracking device; and provide at least one contentassociated with the at least one zone of interest to the trackingdevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-recited and other advantages and features of the presenttechnology will become apparent by reference to specific implementationsillustrated in the appended drawings. A person of ordinary skill in theart will understand that these drawings only show some examples of thepresent technology and would not limit the scope of the presenttechnology to these examples. Furthermore, the skilled artisan willappreciate the principles of the present technology as described andexplained with additional specificity and detail through the use of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example system, in accordance with one aspect of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an example system, in accordance with one aspect of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method of creating destination specificmodels, in accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of location determination usingon-board sensor-data, in accordance with one aspect of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 5 is an example method of content providing based on locationdetermination using on-board sensor data, in accordance with one aspectof the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an example method of content providing based on locationdetermination using on-board sensor data, in accordance to an aspect ofthe present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 illustrates example components of a system for implementing thepresent technologies, in accordance one aspect of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various examples of the present technology are discussed in detailbelow. While specific implementations are discussed, it should beunderstood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A personskilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components andconfigurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope ofthe present technology.

The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art to obtainaccurate readings of a location of a tracking device using on-boardsensor data in addition to GPS signals alone may not be sufficientlyaccurate. This improved location determination technique can in turnimprove the accuracy of providing a user associated with the trackingdevice with more targeted content.

The disclosure begins with a description of several example systems inwhich the concepts described herein can be implemented.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system, in accordance with one aspect ofthe present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, system 100 includes auser 102 associated with a tracking device 104 (user device 104 orcustomer device 104). While not shown in FIG. 1, user 102 and trackingdevice 104 can be associated with a moving object including, but notlimited to, a car, a bus, a bike, a public transportation vehicle, etc.The tracking device 104 can be any known or to be developed electronicdevice capable of tracking a movement of the user 102 (and theassociated moving object) and communication the same with a server 112over a wired and/or wireless communication platform such as over acellular network or a WiFi connection. Examples of tracking device 104include, but are not limited to, a cellular phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop, a tablet, a wristband tracking object, etc.In one example, tracking device 104 has location service 105. Locationservice 105 can be any known or to be developed built-in sensor, deviceand/or location determining component such as a global positioningsystem (GPS) device capable of recording geographical coordinates (e.g.,latitude and longitude) of tracking device 104 at any given point intime.

While not shown in FIG. 1, tracking device 104, server 112 and any othercomponent of system 100 have other components for enabling communicationwith other components such as transceivers.

The system 100 further includes a destination 106. Destination 106 canbe a target location that is to receive arrival alerts from server 112informing an operator thereof of the timing of user 102's arrival atdestination 106. For example, destination 106 can be a brick-and-mortarstore, from which user 102 has ordered item(s) for purchase and is enroute to pick up the order. Therefore, it is important for server 112 toprovide an arrival alert to destination 106 at a threshold time ahead ofthe arrival of user 102 (e.g., 8 minutes prior to user's arrival atdestination 106) to ensure that the ordered item(s) is/are ready whenuser 102 arrives at destination 106. Therefore, the arrival alert needsto be as accurate as possible to avoid or reduce inconveniences (e.g.,waiting for the ordered item(s) to be prepared for a period of timeafter arrival) experienced by user 102 and/or an operator at destination106.

In another example, destination 106 can be any location that user 102 isgoing to visit or is currently visiting including, but not limited to, arestaurant, a department store, other types of service providers such asdry cleaning services, a library, etc.

Destination 106 can have an operator 108 associated therewith such as anemployee. Furthermore, destination 106 can have a computing device 110with which operator 108 interacts to receive arrival alerts, send andreceive identifying information to server 112 and/or track device 104,confirm/cancel/adjust orders, etc. Computing device 110 can be any knownor to be developed device that is used by destination 106 and is capableof communicating with server 112 over a wired and/or wireless connectionsuch as a WiFi connection. Examples of computing device 110 include, butare not limited to, a tablet, a stationary computer device, a mobiledevice, any other known or to be developed Point of Sale (POS) devices,etc.

System 100 also includes server 112. Server 112 can have one or moreprocessors such as processor 114 capable of implementing one or moresets of computer-readable instructions stored in one or more memoriessuch as memory 116. Execution of any one or more of these sets ofinstructions enable server 112 to implement functionalities of methodsdescribed below with reference to FIGS. 3-5. These functionalitiesinclude, but are not limited to, building destination specific modelsusing machine learning, which can then be used to provide arrivalprediction services, determining smart signaling for location receivinglocation updates, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1, server 112 can also have database 118 (can also bereferred to as past trips database 118). Data stored in database 118, aswill be described below, will be used by machine learning algorithmsimplemented by server 112 to build destination specific models andperform arrival prediction services.

In one example, server 112 can communicate with third party platformssuch as third party platform 122 to provide third-party sponsoredcontent to tracking device 104 and/or destination 106. In anotherexample, server 112 can itself be a content provider. The providing ofcontent using location information of tracking device 104 or destination106 will be further described below.

System 100 can also include routing engine 120. Routing engine 120 canbe any conventional routing engine such as those commonly associatedwith mapping applications. Such routing engines may take into accountdistance to a destination and speed limits and in some cases currenttraffic, weather and time of day conditions in providing preliminaryarrival times to server 112, which will be used by server 112 and logicsimplemented thereon to refine, revise and provide arrival alerts todestination 106. Furthermore, routing engine 120 may or may not accountfor other location specific factors such as most likely routes to thedestination, likely stops along the way and any other learned factorsfor generating destination specific models for destinations at server112.

Server 112 and routine engine 120 can be co-located physically or beconfigured to communicate over wired and/or wireless networks.Furthermore, each identified component of system 100 can communicatewith other components of system 100 and/or any other external componentusing currently known or to be developed cellular and/or wirelesscommunication technologies and platforms.

System 100 can also include a third party platform 122. Third partyplatform 122 can communicate with server 112 via any known or to bedeveloped wired and/or wireless network. Third party platform 122 can beany known or to be developed content provider (e.g., a merchant, ane-commerce organization, etc.) that provides products for sale to usersand customers. Third party platform 122, as will be described below, cancommunicate with server 112 to utilize services offered by server 112 indetermining location information of user devices (e.g., tracking device104) and using the same for providing targeted content to trackingdevice 104. While FIG. 1 illustrates a single third party platform 122,the present disclosure is not limited to just one and may include two ormore third party platforms 122 utilizing services of server 112, as willbe described below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system, in accordance with one aspect ofthe present disclosure. System 200 of FIG. 2 is the same as system 100of FIG. 1 except that instead of having user 102 travel to destination106 to pick up item(s)/service(s) ordered as shown in FIG. 1, adestination such as destination 106 utilizes a delivery service (e.g.that of a driver) to deliver user 102's order(s) to user 102. Therefore,components of system 200 that have the same numerical reference as thosein FIG. 1 will not be further described for sake of brevity.

In system 200 shown in FIG. 2, instead of destination 106 and itscorresponding components, a driver 206 having an associated trackingdevice 208 is illustrated. In the context of FIG. 2, driver 206 andassociated tracking device 208 is moving toward user 102 (similar touser 102 and tracking device 104 in FIG. 1) while user 102 is stationary(similar to destination 106 in FIG. 1). Accordingly, in the context ofFIG. 2, an arrival alert is provided to user 102 informing user 102 ofarrival of driver 206. Therefore, various types of calculations forlocation determination as described in this application, are performedfor determining location of tracking device 208 and estimating itsarrival at user 102.

Driver 206 and tracking device 208 can be associated with a movingobject such as a vehicle operated by driver 206. Tracking device 208 canbe any known or to be developed electronic device capable of tracking amovement of the driver 206 (and the associated moving object) andcommunicate the same with server 112 over a wired and/or wirelesscommunication platform such as over a cellular network or a WiFiconnection. Examples of tracking device 208 include, but are not limitedto, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop, atablet, a wristband tracking object, etc. Location service 210 oftracking device 208 can be the same as location service 105 of trackingdevice 104 (identified as customer device 104 in FIG. 2) described abovewith reference to FIG. 1.

While in FIGS. 1 and 2 various components are illustrated and described,inventive concepts are not limited thereto. For example, the number ofusers, devices, destinations, servers, third party platform(s), etc.,are not limited to those described and can be more or less. Furthermore,both systems 100 and 200 can have additional components, architectureand/or functionalities associated therewith that are ordinary and/ornecessary for proper operations thereof and thus are within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Furthermore, while FIGS. 1 and 2 are two examples of systems in whichthe concepts described below can be implemented, the present disclosureis not limited thereto. For example, a system in which the presentconcepts can be implemented need to necessarily involve a trackingdevice or a driver device traveling to a destination or to a customerdevice but can simply be a server such as server 112 tracking a movingobject such as tracking device 104, driver device 208, etc.

As briefly mentioned above, server 112 is tasked with tracking a movingobject associated with user 102. Information regarding a tracked objectmay be utilized for various purposes including, but not limited to,content conversion tracking, providing arrival alerts to an intendeddestination for an impending arrival of the moving object at theintended destination (e.g., in order to provide an alert to destination106 at a threshold time ahead of user 102's arrival at destination 106,so that operator 108 at destination 106 can prepare and ready order(s)for user 102 to pick up when he or she arrives at destination 106), etc.

Server 112 implements various techniques to improve the accuracy ofdetermining a location of a moving object such as tracking device(customer device) 104. For example, server 112 applies machine learningto various statistical data to create destination specific model(s) fordestination 106. Various statistic data can include, but is not limitedto, past completed trips of users to destination 106, past completedtrips of user 102, traffic conditions, modes of transportation, types ofmoving objects associated with user 102 (and/or driver 206 in FIG. 2),weather conditions, times of days, events taking place en route todestination 106 or at destination 106, speed of the moving object, anyconstruction, road closures and improvement, historical stops made byuser 102 on such route and/or purchases made en route, etc. Thestatistical data can be stored in database 118.

For example, a particular brick-and-mortar store maybe located in adowntown area where traffic conditions vary greatly depending on time ofday. Server 112 takes this information into consideration to build adestination specific model for the brick-and-mortar store located in thedowntown area. Accordingly, in determining location information of user102 as user 102 travels to the downtown location of the brick-and-mortarstore and depending on the time of day, server 112 can augment itsprediction and improve the determination of location information of user102 using the corresponding destination specific model and/or otherhistorical data in database 118 corresponding to visits/stops of user102 en route. For example, user 102 may typically stop at a particulargas station or a particular convenient store whenever user 102 visitsthe brick-and-mortar store. Such information is also taken intoconsideration by server 112 in determining location information of user102.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method of creating destination specificmodels, in accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 3will be described with reference to FIG. 1. However, the conceptsdescribed are equally applicable to the system of FIG. 2 as well. Themethod illustrated in FIG. 3 begins after one or more notifications havebeen provided to destination computing device 110 regarding an arrivalprediction of user 102 at destination 106 to pick up order(s) (or one ormore trips to destination 106 have been completed). Server 112 can storea collection of data in database 118. The data can be any one or more ofstatistical data examples provided above. In addition, server 112 canstore information regarding the quality of past notifications and anidentifier of the past notifications. For example, every time server 112has provided an arrival alert to destination 106 indicating that user102 will arrive in 8 minutes, server 112 compares this estimated arrivaltime to an actual time it took user 102 to arrive at destination 106.For example, while server 112 predicted, at time T0, that user 102 willarrive at destination 106 in 8 minutes, in reality, it may take user 1026 minutes from T0 to arrive at destination 106. This indicates aprediction error of 25%. Server 112 stores this prediction error indatabase 118. During the next round of prediction and in providing thearrival alert, server 112 adjusts its prediction by 25% before providingthe arrival alert (e.g., in the particular example described above,instead of providing the arrival alert at T0, server 112 now providesthe arrival alert at T1 which is 2 minutes earlier than T0).

At S302, server 112 queries computing device 110 of destination 106 forrating a quality of a recently provided arrival alert. Operator 108operating destination computing device 110 can respond to the query.Upon receiving the response, server 112 stores the rating at S306. Inaddition to, simultaneous with or instead of querying computing device110 for rating, at S304, server 112 can calculate a rating or predictionerror regarding the arrival alert, as described above. Similarly, thecalculated rating is received at S306.

At S308, server 112 can record the received rating(s), per S302 andS304, in database 118 in association with an identification (ID) of thenotification. The ID can be an identification of a particulartransaction between user 102 and a merchant at destination 106, can bean identification associated with user 102, can be an identificationassociated with destination 106 or any combination thereof.

Server 112 can also store in database 118, information regarding a routetaken by user 102 in connection with a recently completed trip todestination 106, and any other data pertinent to the trip that resultedin the notification. The route taken by user 102 can be learned fromdata reported by location service 105 to server 112 while user 102 andassociated computing device 104 were traveling to destination 106. Insome examples, from this route information, server 112 can determine ifuser 102 made any stops while in route to destination 106. Server 112can also record a time of day, day of week, and date associated with thenotification in database 118. Server 112 can aggregate the above datafor trips by many users.

At S310, server 112 applies machine learning algorithm(s) to thehistorical data specific to destination 106 stored in database 118. AtS312, server 112 generates destination specific model for destination106 based on the machine learning algorithm(s) applied to stored data atS310. In one example, destination specific model may be created ortrained by analyzing factors associated with notifications that wereconsidered of good quality and factors associated with notificationsthat were considered of poor quality. Since the destination specificmodel is generated through machine learning, some dimensions ofdestination specific model may not have any semantic meaning while somedimensions may have a semantic significance. For example, thosedimensions having a semantic meaning can include likelihood that a userwill make other stops along the route, likelihood that a user willencounter traffic along the route, the most likely routes to thedestination, etc.

In some examples, machine learning may initially be trained on all datain database 118 regardless of destination to result in a locationnon-specific model. In such examples, destination specific model may bethe result of tuning the location non-specific model for factorsrelevant to the specific destination 106.

As can be seen from the above description, server 112 relies on locationupdates received from tracking device 104 in order to determine currentlocation of user 102.

The location updates received from tracking device 104 can be GPSsignals (satellite signals) readings obtained by a GPS tracking deviceembedded in tracking device 104.

Server 112, by relying on data obtained from external sources such as apublic database, may have a record of precise geographical coordinatesof any given geographical location (latitude and longitude values). Suchprecise geographical coordinates may be referred to as registeredgeographical coordinates or simply registered coordinates of a givengeographical location. Therefore, every time server 112 receives a GPSsignal reading from tracking devices, server 112 can compare the GPSreading received, which includes latitude and longitude values of thecorresponding geographical location, with the registered geographicalcoordinates of the same location. If the difference between any two ofthe received and registered latitude and longitude values two are withina threshold (e.g., less than 5 meters, 10 meters, within a margin oferror of less than 5%, 10%, etc.), the server 112 would then considerthe received coordinates as “precise”.

Based on the above and over time, server 112 can build up a database ofgeographical areas in which average error of received GPS signalsreadings from tracking devices are not “precise”. These geographicalareas may be stored at server 112 and may be referred to as high errorzones. Thereafter, whenever a tracking device is located within a higherror zone, and as will be discussed below, any sparse “precise” GPSreadings received from said tracking device may be used as a referencepoint after which determination of movement and hence the location ofthe tracking device may be augmented using on-board sensors anddisplacement/location calculations (information) of the tracking device.This can improve the location updates of the tracking device received atthe server 112.

While using on-board sensor data can accommodate for inaccuracies in GPSsignal readings when tracking device 104 is located in a high errorzone, even when such GPS signal readings are “precise,” reliance on GPSsignal readings alone may be insufficient to track and record relativelysmall movements of tracking device 104. For example, GPS signal readingsmay be insufficient to differentiate between a tracking device'spresence in two adjacent stores or two stores located on top of eachother on different levels of a mall, etc. This deficiency can translateinto missing user 102's presence in one store (for which anadvertisement was pushed/provided to tracking device 104) andinadvertently determining user 102's presence in an adjacent store (forwhich no advertisement was pushed/provided to tracking device 104),which can in turn result in inaccurate determination of contentconversion rates for the advertisement pushed/provided to trackingdevice 104.

Augmenting GPS signal readings with data from on-board sensors of atracking device not only provides the above described advantage, it canalso be used to send more targeted content to the tracking device aswill be described below.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of location determination usingon-board sensor-data, in accordance with one aspect of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 4 will be described from the perspective of server 112and with reference to FIGS. 1-3. However, it is understood by thoseskill in the art that one or more processors such as processor 114 ofserver 112 executes computer readable instructions stored on or morememories such as memory 116 to implement the functionalities describedbelow.

At S400, server 112 detects that tracking device 104 is in a high errorzone. In one example, server 112 detects the presence of tracking device104 in the high error zone based determining that the latest locationupdate (or average of a predetermined number of location updatesrecently received from tracking device 104) corresponds to one or moregeographical areas identified as high error zones by server 112, asdescribed above.

At S402, server 112 receives a location update (e.g., a GPS signalreading) from tracking device 104 that may be indicative of a currentlocation (geographical coordinates) of tracking device 104.

At S404, server 112 determines if the location update (GPS signal)received from tracking device 104 at S402, after detecting the presenceof the tracking device 104 in the high error zone, is accurate(“precise”). In one example, this accuracy determination is based oncomparing the coordinates of a current location of the tracking deviceindicated in the received location update to registered coordinates ofthe same location at server 112. If the received coordinates (eitherlongitude value or the latitude value or combination of both) are withina threshold of the registered coordinates (e.g., having an error that isless than a threshold such as 1%, 2%, 5% or a difference of less than 5meters/miles, 10 meters/miles, etc.), then server 112 determines thatthe location update is accurate.

If at S404, server 112 determines that the recently received locationupdate is accurate, at S406, server 112 updates its record of currentlocation of tracking device 104 using the received current location andregisters (stores) the current location as the “latest precise location”or the “latest reference point”. Thereafter, the process proceeds toS408, which will be described below.

Referring back to S404, if at S404, server 112 determines that thereceived location update is not accurate, then server 112 simply usesthe last received accurate or precise location update as the “latestreference point.”

At S408, server 112 sends commands to tracking device 104 to turn on(activate) its on-board sensors to be used for tracking movement of thetracking device 104. Examples of such on-board sensors include, but arenot limited to, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, etc. In responseto the commands, tracking device 104 enables said sensors and cancollect movement and location data to perform calculations on-board inorder to determine the amount of displacement of tracking device 104since activation of the sensors. These calculations can be doneaccording to any known or to be developed method.

At S410 and at the time of providing next location update by trackingdevice 104, server 112 also receives the calculations performed on boardtracking device 104 (may be referred to as displacement information)

At S412, server 112 retrieves the “latest reference point” (e.g., storedat S406 described above) and updates the same with the displacementinformation received at S410. In one example, if the process of FIG. 4,has never reached S406 (e.g., an accurate or precise location update hasnever been received by server 112 for tracking device 104), then atS412, server 112 uses the location update of S402 instead of the “latestreference point of S406 and updates the location update from S402 withthe displacement information received at S410.

In one example, the updating may also be based on the destinationspecific model for destination 106 that sever 112 may have generated fordestination 106 per the process of FIG. 3. For example, the specificdestination model for destination 106 may include information oncorrelation between traffic (e.g., average speed and time) on a currentroute of which user 102 and tracking device 104 are travelling todestination 106 and time of day. Therefore, if a particular time period(e.g., afternoon rush hour between 4 PM to 6 PM) is associated with a10% slower traffic on the current route and the current time (as theuser 102 is traveling to destination 106) falls within such time period,then server 112 may update the “latest reference point” with thedisplacement information and/or an additional factor of 10% due to therelatively slower traffic.

By implementing the method of FIG. 4, better and more accurate locationupdates from tracking device 104 is obtained by server 112, which can beused to improve the types of content and targeting thereof to trackingdevice 104.

In another example embodiment, a high error zone may not necessarily bein a downtown area or an area with structures that block GPS signals.Instead a high error zone may be a geographical area (may be an openfield or a remote region), where signal reception and strength of GPSsignals are weak or less than a threshold amount of strength.Accordingly, the process of FIG. 4 is equally applicable to such remoteor open field example of a high error zone.

As mentioned above, there can be scenarios in which server 112 can actas a content provider, where examples of contents include, but are notlimited to, advertisements, coupons, promotions etc. Additionally,server 112 can act as an intermediary for providing (pushing) contentprovided by third party platform 122 to tracking device 104.

Currently, content providing systems target users with advertisements orcoupons based on an estimated geographical location of a trackingdevice. For example, when a user is detected to be present in a mall,existing content providers provide the user with advertisements,coupons, promotions, etc. for all merchants operating in the shoppingmall, regardless of the exact location of the user. Locationdetermination based on on-board sensor data can improve the accuracy ofa user's determined location and thus help provide more targetedadvertisements to the user.

FIG. 5 is an example method of content providing based on locationdetermination using on-board sensor data, in accordance with an aspectof the present disclosure. FIG. 5 will be described from the perspectiveof server 112 and with reference to FIGS. 1-4. However, it is understoodby those skill in the art that one or more processors such as processor114 of server 112 executes computer readable instructions stored on ormore memories such as memory 116 to implement the functionalitiesdescribed below.

At S500, server 112 receives a call from user 102 via tracking device104. In one example, the call may be the same as a location updateprovided by the tracking device 104 to the server 112, as describedabove.

At S502 and upon receiving the call, server 112 determines a tile(geographical tile) associated with the location update of trackingdevice 104 received at S500 and provides the same to the tracking device104. In one example, a tile identifies coordinates/boundaries of ageographical location.

Server 112 may have a database of tiles stored thereon. A tile canidentify a specific geographical area. For example, server 112 candivide a city or a downtown area into several tiles/sections (e.g.,square tiles, polygon tiles, etc.) spanning the entire city or downtownarea.

Server 112 determines (selects) the tile to be provided to trackingdevice 104 based on the location update received from tracking device104 as part of the call at S500. In one example, a tile can includepolygons of user 102's interests. For example, such polygons include afoot print of a particular store, foot prints of locations that offer aparticular type of product or services of interest to user 102, etc.Polygons of interest can also be referred to as zones of interest.

At S504, server 112 performs the process of FIG. 4 to determine alocation of tracking device 104 within the tile assigned to trackingdevice at S502, based on GPS signals and on-board sensors of trackingdevice 104. More specifically and per FIG. 4, the location of trackingdevice 104 within the tile assigned thereto at S502 is determined basedon received GPS signal readings from tracking device 104 and on-boardsensors of tracking device 104 turned on for data collection andon-board movement/displacement determination. Accordingly, at S504,server 112 determines an exact location of tracking device 104 withinthe tile assigned to tracking device 104 at S502 by augmenting the GPSsignals with displacement information determined using on-board sensorsof tracking device 104.

At S506 and based on the determined location at S504, server 112determines whether tracking device 104 and user 102 are detected to bewithin a particular polygon or zone of interest. This can be done bycomparing location coordinates of tracking device 104 based on thelocation determined at S504 and determining if the coordinates fallwithin (and/or on or within a threshold percentage) of perimeters orboundary of the tile of S502.

A polygon of interest can be, but is not limited to, a particular storelocation, a restaurant, any type of business location, a museum, a pointof interest, etc.

If server 112 determines that the tracking device 104 is not in apolygon of interest associated with the tile, the process reverts backto S506 and server 112 repeats S504 and S506 until tracking device 104is detected in a polygon of interest.

Upon determining at S506 that user 102 and tracking device 104 are in apolygon of interest, at S508, server 112 can perform a series of content(or at least one content) pushes to tracking device 104 and/or anotherelectronic device associated with user 102 that is capable of receivingnotifications, pushes containing contents, etc.

In one example, the content pushed to tracking device 104 includesspecific promotions and coupons associated with the polygon of interest.This providing of polygon specific content is enabled due to the factthat server 112 has the ‘exact’ location of tracking device 104 based onthe latest reference point and on-board movement determination attracking device 104 using sensor data.

In another example, the content pushed can be a specific action to betaken by user 102 within the polygon of interest such as making paymentfor an order, scheduling next appointment, completing paperwork, etc.

In another example, as will be described with reference to FIG. 6,zone/polygon specific content can be provided to tracking device 104 atS502. Accordingly, tracking device 104 and server 112 need notcommunicate when tracking device 104 is detected within a polygon ofinterest. In other words, example contents to be provided to trackingdevice 104 at S508 can instead be provided to tracking device 104 atS502. Therefore, user 102, through tracking device 104, canautomatically get a notification of content, take a particular actionsuch as making an automatic payment, as soon as tracking device 104 iswithin a particular polygon of interest, without having the content,payment reminders, etc., be pushed to tracking device 104 after trackingdevice 104 is detected within the corresponding polygon of interest.

In this scenario, server 112 may have a pre-stored database of contentfor various polygons of interested stored in an associated memory or inthe alternative can pull content from third party database(s) uponassociated tracking device 104 with a ‘tile’ at S502.

FIG. 6 is an example method of content providing based on locationdetermination using on-board sensor data, in accordance with an aspectof the present disclosure. FIG. 6 will be described from the perspectiveof tracking device 104 and with reference to FIGS. 1-4. However, it isunderstood by those skill in the art that one or more processors runningon tracking device 104 executes computer readable instructions stored onor more memories of tracking device 104 to implement the functionalitiesdescribed below.

At S600, tracking device 104 sends to server 112 a call on behalf ofuser 102. In one example, the call may be the same as a location updateprovided by the tracking device 104 to the server 112, as describedabove.

At S602, tracking device 104 receives from server 112 a tile designation(geographical tile) associated with the location update of trackingdevice 104 that is sent to server 112 at S600. As described above, atile identifies coordinates/boundaries of a geographical location.

Server 112 may have a database of tiles stored thereon. A tile canidentify a specific geographical area. For example, server 112 candivide a city or a downtown area into several tiles/sections (e.g.,square tiles, polygon tiles, etc.) spanning the entire city or downtownarea.

Server 112 determines (selects) the tile to be provided to trackingdevice 104 based on the location update received from tracking device104 as part of the call at S600. In one example, a tile can includepolygons of user 102's interests. For example, such polygons include afoot print of a particular store, foot prints of locations that offer aparticular type of product or services of interest to user 102, etc.Polygons of interest can also be referred to as zones of interest.

At S604, tracking device 104 receives at least one content (a pluralityof content) associated with points of interest/polygons of interestwithin the tile, from server 112. In one example, S604 may be performedsimultaneously with S602. The at least one content can be, for example,a promotion associated with a store or a polygon of interest locatedwithin the tile. Each of the plurality of content may have locationinformation of a corresponding point of interest associated with thecontent. For example, a food coupon for a particular restaurant may havelocation information of the particular restaurant associated with it.

Thereafter, at S606, tracking device 104 receives a command from server112 to turn on on-board sensors of tracking device 104, as describedabove. Also at S606, server 112 can send “latest reference point” totracking device 104. Alternatively, tracking device 104 may have “latestreference point” information already available thereon and thusreceiving the same from server 112 may not be necessary.

Thereafter, at S608 and in response to activation of on-board sensors,tracking device 104 determines updated location information of trackingdevice 104 by calculating displacement information indicative of detailsof movement of tracking device 104 relative to the “latest referencepoint” to determine an accurate/exact location of tracking device 104,as described above. This on-device location determination of locationwill be used for automatic activation or triggering of a correspondingone of the at least one content pushed to tracking device 104 at S604.

At S610, tracking device 104 determines whether the updated locationinformation determined at S608 indicate presence of tracking device 104within a given zone of interest (polygon of interest) associated withone of the content received at S604. If tracking device 104 determinesthat tracking device 104 is not within a zone of interest, the processreverts back to S608 and is repeated until tracking device 104determines its presence in a polygon of interest.

However, if at S610, tracking device 104 determines that it is presentin at least one polygon of interest, at S612, tracking device 104activates a corresponding content. For example, once tracking device 104determines that it is within a restaurant (an example of a polygon ofinterest) for which a coupon of 10% off was received at S604, then anotification informing user 102 of the availability of the discount isdisplayed on a graphical user interface of tracking device 104 or anyother device associated with user 102. In another example, once thetracking device 104 is determined to be within a coffee shop, automaticpayment for an order may be activated for user 102 to pay for the orderusing a digital wallet available on tracking device 104 (or a mobiledevice) of user 102, using known or to be developed methods ofonline/cardless and digital payments.

FIG. 7 illustrates example components of a system for implementing thepresent technologies, in accordance one aspect of the presentdisclosure. The system of FIG. 7 illustrates example structure of server112, tracking device 104 and/or any other components of system 100 orsystem 200 of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a computing system in which the components ofthe system are in communication with each other using connection 705.Connection 705 can be a physical connection via a bus, or a directconnection into processor 710, such as in a chipset architecture.Connection 705 can also be a virtual connection, networked connection,or logical connection.

In some embodiments computing system 700 is a distributed system inwhich the functions described in this disclosure can be distributedwithin a datacenter, multiple datacenters, a peer network, etc. In someembodiments, one or more of the described system components representsmany such components each performing some or all of the function forwhich the component is described. In some embodiments, the componentscan be physical or virtual devices.

Example system 700 includes at least one processing unit (CPU orprocessor) 710 and connection 705 that couples various system componentsincluding system memory 715, such as read only memory (ROM) 720 andrandom access memory (RAM) 725 to processor 710.

Computing system 700 can include a cache 712 of high-speed memoryconnected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part ofprocessor 710.

Processor 710 can include any general purpose processor and a hardwareservice or software service, such as service 1 732, service 2 734, andservice 3 736 stored in storage device 730, configured to controlprocessor 710 as well as a special-purpose processor where softwareinstructions are incorporated into the actual processor design.Processor 710 may essentially be a completely self-contained computingsystem, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memorycontroller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric orasymmetric.

To enable user interaction, computing system 700 includes an inputdevice 745, which can represent any number of input mechanisms, such asa microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture orgraphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech, etc. Computingsystem 700 can also include output device 735, which can be one or moreof a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. Insome instances, multimodal systems can enable a user to provide multipletypes of input/output to communicate with computing system 700.Computing system 700 can include communications interface 740, which cangenerally govern and manage the user input and system output. There isno restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement andtherefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improvedhardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

Storage device 730 can be a non-volatile memory device and can be a harddisk or other types of computer readable media which can store data thatare accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges,random access memories (RAMs), read only memory (ROM), and/or somecombination of these devices.

The storage device 730 can include software services, servers, services,etc., that when the code that defines such software is executed by theprocessor 710, it causes the system to perform a function. In someembodiments, a hardware service that performs a particular function caninclude the software component stored in a computer-readable medium inconnection with the necessary hardware components, such as processor710, connection 705, output device 735, etc., to carry out the function.

For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology maybe presented as including individual functional blocks includingfunctional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps orroutines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardwareand software.

Any of the steps, operations, functions, or processes described hereinmay be performed or implemented by a combination of hardware andsoftware services or services, alone or in combination with otherdevices. In some embodiments, a service can be software that resides inmemory of a client device and/or one or more servers of a contentmanagement system and perform one or more functions when a processorexecutes the software associated with the service. In some embodiments,a service is a program, or a collection of programs that carry out aspecific function. In some embodiments, a service can be considered aserver. The memory can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, andmemories can include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit streamand the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readablestorage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals,electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

Methods according to the above-described examples can be implementedusing computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwiseavailable from computer readable media. Such instructions can comprise,for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network.The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, orsource code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used tostore instructions, information used, and/or information created duringmethods according to described examples include magnetic or opticaldisks, solid state memory devices, flash memory, USB devices providedwith non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, and so on.

Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can comprisehardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety ofform factors. Typical examples of such form factors include servers,laptops, smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personaldigital assistants, and so on. Functionality described herein also canbe embodied in peripherals or add-in cards. Such functionality can alsobe implemented on a circuit board among different chips or differentprocesses executing in a single device, by way of further example.

The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computingresources for executing them, and other structures for supporting suchcomputing resources are means for providing the functions described inthese disclosures.

Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explainaspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of theclaims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements insuch examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use theseexamples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further andalthough some subject matter may have been described in languagespecific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it isto be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claimsis not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. Forexample, such functionality can be distributed differently or performedin components other than those identified herein. Rather, the describedfeatures and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systemsand methods within the scope of the appended claims.

For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology maybe presented as including individual functional blocks includingfunctional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps orroutines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardwareand software.

Any of the steps, operations, functions, or processes described hereinmay be performed or implemented by a combination of hardware andsoftware services or services, alone or in combination with otherdevices. In some embodiments, a service can be software that resides inmemory of a client device and/or one or more servers of a contentmanagement system and perform one or more functions when a processorexecutes the software associated with the service. In some embodiments,a service is a program, or a collection of programs that carry out aspecific function. In some embodiments, a service can be considered aserver. The memory can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, andmemories can include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit streamand the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readablestorage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals,electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

Methods according to the above-described examples can be implementedusing computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwiseavailable from computer readable media. Such instructions can comprise,for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network.The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, orsource code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used tostore instructions, information used, and/or information created duringmethods according to described examples include magnetic or opticaldisks, solid state memory devices, flash memory, USB devices providedwith non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, and so on.

Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can comprisehardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety ofform factors. Typical examples of such form factors include servers,laptops, smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personaldigital assistants, and so on. Functionality described herein also canbe embodied in peripherals or add-in cards. Such functionality can alsobe implemented on a circuit board among different chips or differentprocesses executing in a single device, by way of further example.

The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computingresources for executing them, and other structures for supporting suchcomputing resources are means for providing the functions described inthese disclosures.

Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explainaspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of theclaims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements insuch examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use theseexamples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further andalthough some subject matter may have been described in languagespecific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it isto be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claimsis not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. Forexample, such functionality can be distributed differently or performedin components other than those identified herein. Rather, the describedfeatures and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systemsand methods within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of targeted contentproviding, the method comprising: assigning a geographical tile to atracking device, the geographical tile representing a geographicallocation in which the tracking device is currently located; activatingat least one sensor on-board the tracking device, the at least onesensor of the tracking device being used to collect location data anddetermine displacement information of the tracking device within thegeographical tile; receiving the displacement information as well as atleast one satellite based location update from the tracking device;determining at least one zone of interest in the tile at which thetracking device is currently located based on the displacementinformation and at least one satellite based location information of thetracking device; and providing at least one content associated with theat least one zone of interest to the tracking device.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving acall from the tracking device indicating a current location of thetracking device, wherein the assigning of the geographical tile to thetracking device is based on the current location of the tracking device.3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least onecontent is an advertisement, a promotion or a coupon associated with theat least one zone of interest.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one content is an action to be taken by auser of the tracking device within the at least one zone of interest. 5.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least onesatellite based location update includes geographical coordinates of acurrent location of the tracking device that are within a threshold ofregistered geographical coordinates for the current location andavailable to a server.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving the at least one content from a thirdparty content provider.
 7. A device comprising: memory havingcomputer-readable instructions stored therein; and one or moreprocessors configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to:receive a geographical tile from a server, the geographical tilerepresenting a geographical location in which the device is currentlylocated; receive a plurality of content associated with the geographicaltile from the server; determine displacement information of the devicewithin the tile using a reference point and displacement data obtainedvia at least one on-board sensor of the device; determine a presence ofthe device within a zone of interest in the tile based on thedisplacement information; and activate at least one contentcorresponding the zone of interest.
 8. The device of claim 7, whereinthe reference point is location information of the device based on areceived Global Positioning System (GPS) signal.
 9. The device of claim7, wherein the at least one on-board sensor is one of an accelerometer,a gyroscope or a magnetometer of the device.
 10. The device of claim 7,wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute thecomputer readable instructions to: send a call to the server indicatingat least a current location of the device; and receive the geographicaltile in response to the call.
 11. The device of claim 7, wherein theplurality of content includes an action to be taken by a user of thedevice within the zone of interest.
 12. The device of claim 7, whereinthe plurality of content include an advertisement, a promotion or acoupon.
 13. The device of claim 12, wherein the zone of interest is apoint of interest associated with one or more of the plurality ofcontent.
 14. The device of claim 7, wherein the one or more processorsare configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receivethe plurality of content from a third party content provider.
 15. Aserver comprising: memory having computer-readable instructions storedtherein; and one or more processors configured to execute thecomputer-readable instructions to: assign a geographical tile to atracking device, the geographical tile representing a geographicallocation in which the tracking device is currently located; activate atleast one sensor on-board the tracking device, the at least one sensorof the tracking device being used to collect location data and determinedisplacement information of the tracking device within the geographicaltile; receive the displacement information as well as at least onesatellite based location update from the tracking device; determine atleast one zone of interest in the tile at which the tracking device iscurrently located based on the displacement information and at least onesatellite based location information of the tracking device; and provideat least one content associated with the at least one zone of interestto the tracking device.
 16. The server of claim 15, wherein the one ormore processors are configured to execute the computer readableinstructions to: receive a call from the tracking device indicating acurrent location of the tracking device, wherein assigning of thegeographical tile to the tracking device is based on the currentlocation of the tracking device.
 17. The server of claim 15, wherein theat least one content is an advertisement, a promotion or a couponassociated with the at least one zone of interest.
 18. The server ofclaim 15, wherein the at least one content is an action to be taken by auser of the tracking device within the at least one zone of interest.19. The server of claim 15, wherein the at least one satellite basedlocation update includes geographical coordinates of a current locationof the tracking device that are within a threshold of registeredgeographical coordinates for the current location and available to theserver.
 20. The server of claim 15, wherein the one or more processorsare configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receivethe at least one content from a third party content provider.